


Mental Agency

by anachronism



Category: Daredevil (TV), Jessica Jones (TV)
Genre: Gen, Mind Control Aftermath & Recovery, Past Mind Control
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-02
Updated: 2017-02-02
Packaged: 2018-09-21 15:25:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,117
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9554957
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anachronism/pseuds/anachronism
Summary: "Is it true that you went up against Kilgrave and didn’t fall for any of his mind tricks?”Brett doesn't have anyone else to talk to about this kind of thing.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Blending MCU and some ill-gained comic!verse knowledge from Wikipedia to make this fic happen. Also, timelines. What are timelines? Pretty sure Brett's supposed to be a detective in this vague, hand-wavy could-be-canon insert snippit. Just go with it guys.

“Wait!” The word slips out before Brett can consider the full consequences of his request.

Daredevil stops, as he always does when Brett asks him to these days, which is some kind of amazing that he doesn’t want to examine too closely. “Is there something I can do for you, Detective?”

He’s not sure how this is going to go. Daredevil doesn’t talk so much as he distributes information or argues a point he’s trying to make. Granted, there’s never time for casual conversation. Even now Brett is highly cognizant of the fact that his partner will come wandering outside to check in with him in another five minutes or so.

This is also the first time in weeks that he’s seen the vigilante. Who knows when he’ll get this chance again?

“Is it true?”

Daredevil turns so that he’s somewhat facing Brett instead of just standing so that Brett’s stuck staring at his back.

“Is it true that you went up against Kilgrave and didn’t fall for any of his mind tricks?”

Daredevil clenches his fists briefly. “Yes.”

“How?”

Daredevil takes a moment before answering. “I believe I am somewhat… indisposed to his particular brand of persuasion.”

“So, it’s like a superpower or something?” Brett shakes his head. “Figures.”

“Not a superpower. More like a physical state of being that deviates from the norm. Or something.”

“Sounds an awful lot like a superpower to me.”

Now Daredevil looks amused. “Is there a reason why this is so important to you Detective?”

Brett shifts uneasily. “Something happened at the precinct a while back,” he blurts out. “Nobody talks about it. I think we all just prefer to pretend it never happened. And maybe – maybe that would have worked, before the Incident; because back then some things were still impossible.”

Daredevil is facing him fully now, the visible half of his face grim and serious. “Tell me.”

Brett delivers a condensed summary. How a PI named Jessica Jones had turned herself in for a crime. How Kilgrave had waltzed into the precinct and taken the entire place over to get her out. How she had gone with him to keep the officers safe. How Brett himself never felt like anything was wrong until hours after everyone had stopped laughing about it.

“I held a gun to Detective Clemons,” Brett confesses. “One of the guys in uniform had a gun pointed at his own head. If the lady hadn’t have gone with Kilgrave, I think we all would have died that night.

“You think you don’t have to worry about that kind of thing. Mind control. Or if it comes up you assume that you’ll be strong enough to fight it somehow, that you’ll instinctively know how to resist.”

“But it’s more subtle than that,” Daredevil finishes for him.

Brett frowns at him. “I thought he didn’t affect you.”

“Just because I have a leg up on most doesn’t mean that I didn’t have to fight him.”

“So he can be fought.”

“No form of coercion is perfect. Where there’s a will, there’s a way.”

Though Brett doesn’t mean for it to happen, his shoulders slump. ’Will’ being the keyword in that sentence. “How am I supposed to control my body when I’ve got someone else’s thoughts taking point in my head?”

“You don’t,” Daredevil states bluntly.

“Great. Thanks. That’s helpful.”

Daredevil sighs. “The fight isn’t for your body. It’s for your mind. Your body is just a… tool. Everything it does is controlled by the mind. Master the mind, and the body will follow.”

“That’s one hell of a philosophy,” Brett says.

“Look,” Daredevil continues – to Brett’s surprise. (He’s gotten more words out of the vigilante in the past five minutes than he normally does in five months.) “Kilgrave’s powers are those of suggestion. Powerful suggestion, yes, but it’s not true mind control. His influence fades with time and exposure.”

“How much time?”

“I hear it can take months.”

“Months?”

“The kind of person Kilgrave is, the kind of power he wields, it’s very new. And like you say, most people don’t know how to defend themselves against it, even if they really want to.”

“Care to share some tips then? Something I can actually use?”

The Devil flashes Brett a smile that’s all sharp edges and danger. “Well Detective, I’d say that you’re doing quite well already.”

“How? I haven’t done anything. I don’t even know where to start. That was the entire point of asking you for help in the first place.”

“Well for starters you’re not burying your head in the sand.”

Brett blinks, taken aback. “Pardon?”

“You said that no one ever talks about what happened. Your coworkers want to pretend that nothing was ever wrong, and nothing that horrible will ever happen to them again. But denial never taught anybody anything useful. Forewarned is forearmed and all that.” Daredevil waves a hand vaguely.

“That’s really going to help? Accepting what happened?”

“Battle of the mind, remember?”

“What is this, therapy?”

“Think of it as an exercise in self-awareness. Look. You know what it’s like now. You’re better prepared for this than you think you are.”

“I don’t feel prepared,” Brett mutters under his breath. This entire conversation hasn’t been as constructive as he’d hoped it would be.

“If it makes you feel better, carry around a pair of earplugs, or noise-cancelling headphones,” Daredevil says. “If you can’t hear Kilgrave, then he can’t make you do anything.”

Brett gives him a dirty look. “You couldn’t have maybe led with that?”

The vigilante shrugs. “Keep in mind that not all forms of mind control are created equal. Maybe the next time you run into someone with a similar power all they’ll have to do is point a magic wand at you. Who knows? Earplugs won’t defend against that.”

Brett silently concedes the point. “Is that a thing then? Magic?”

“I wouldn’t bet against it,” is all Daredevil says before he’s scaling the wall like some sort of ghost/ninja hybrid and disappearing over the rooftop.

A moment later, Brett’s partner steps into the alleyway. “You coming in, Mahoney? Or are you going to stand out here starin’ up at the stars all night?”

“Yeah,” Brett says, tearing his gaze away from the roofline. “I’m coming.”

He doesn’t envy the vigilante life. The amount of crazy Daredevil shoulders isn’t worth whatever immunity he may or may not have against mind control. He takes the advice to heart though, and tries to be a little more self-aware, a little more alert in every-day life.

And if a pair of good quality, noise-cancelling headphones finds their way into his car, no one has to know what they’re for.


End file.
